Disney Chills: If The Shoe Fits

Midnight

Cynthia stayed the next couple of hours in the garden, wracking her brain, wondering just what was with this Lady Tremaine character. Anything was better than going back inside and facing her family after her explosion of envy.

But eventually, dinner time arrived, and Cynthia had no choice but to go back inside and eat supper with them. She dragged her feet back into the house and towards the dining room, her stomach aching from both hunger pangs and the dread of facing Stacie after lashing out at her before.

Sure enough, Stacie was already sitting at the dinner table, waiting for both the food to be served and her stepsister to return for the meal. Cynthia's dad was there, too, drumming his fingers on the surface of the table and looking around, clearly anticipating his daughter's arrival.

When Cynthia stepped into the dining room, head bowed and shoulders hunched in shame, both her dad and stepsister looked her way with blank expressions that she could not read. Yet, it felt like they were judging her, shaming her further and increasing her guilt for what happened earlier by tenfold. Hardly able to bear it, Cynthia hurried over and took the chair next to Stacie, not making eye contact with her or Dad.

Moments later, Maria entered the room, carrying a tray with four dishes, piled with piping hot meals that smelled amazing. She saw Cynthia sitting at the table and gave her a warm smile, acting like she hadn't blown up at everyone earlier, which only served to make Cynthia feel even worse than before.

"Cynthia! I'm glad you could join us!", she said as sweetly and kindly as ever.

Dad eyed her sternly, lips pressed together as he leaned over the table. "Now that we're all here...Cynthia, do you have something you'd like to say to Stacie?"

Cynthua glanced over at her stepsister out of the corner of her eye. Stacie was sitting up straight, looking at Cynthia with a neutral expression. Her face showed no expectation of an apology or explanation of her previous behavior, but Cynthia could see the tiniest little glimmer of hope for such a thing in her eyes. Her guilt reached maximum peak.

Sighing, Cynthia lifted her to look at Stacie. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier.", she said sincerely. "I had a really bad day at school, and I took it out on you. It's just that it's hard to see the new girl get everything you want so easily. It's even harder when that girl is your sister."

Stacie shrank into herself. Now she looked like the guilty one. "Gosh, I'm sorry, Cynthia. I didn't mean to steal your thunder. I was just trying to make new friends."

"Just forget it.", Cynthia murmured. "I don't really wanna talk about it. What's for dinner?"

Stacie shared concerned looks with her mom and Cynthia's dad. They didn't like seeing her so upset, she could tell.

"Is there anything we can do to make you feel better, honey?", asked Maria sweetly. "Any way we can help you with your problems?"

"Unless you can wave a magic wand or something, I doubt it.", she scoffed, looking down at the surface of the dinner table. "Look, just drop it. There's nothing you guys can do. I just have to live with it. If you don't mind, I really don't feel like talking about it."

Robert sighed. "Okay. Than let's not talk about it."

Cynthia wondered if she should tell her dad about Lady Tremaine.  Than again, he might not believe her if she told him about his disappearing act in the end.  He might think she was making it up.  Heck, right now, she was wondering if she had made it up, that she had hallucinated, that it had been all in her head.

"So!  The Harvest Festival is coming up soon!", Stacie chirped, redirecting the conversation.

"By soon, you mean six months from now?", asked Cynthia.